


White Hair

by sunset_to_midnight



Series: Tommy? Who's Tommy? The Name's... [1]
Category: Young Avengers
Genre: Headcanon, Trans Character, not canon backstory, pre young avengers, tommy's powers show up, trans tommy shepherd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2018-09-03 04:17:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8696254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunset_to_midnight/pseuds/sunset_to_midnight
Summary: One day, Tommy wakes up and notices a white hair. He thinks that maybe it's just from stress, but he sure is wrong.





	1. A White Hair?

**Author's Note:**

> This is just my headcanon for Tommy's backstory! I have always wanted to know, but since his backstory has not been released, I decided to write my own.  
> ALSO!! These are just my headcanons! For a quick look at the basics of them, check the tags. (He's trans and got his powers when he was older (he wasn't just born with his speed))

        At exactly 5:30am, Tommy Shepherd's alarm went off. He pressed snooze and went back to bed.

        At exactly 5:35am, Tommy Shepherd's alarm went off. Again, he pressed snooze, and went back to bed.

        At exactly 5:40 am, Tommy Shepherd's alarm went off. And again, he pressed snooze, going back to sleep.

        This routine continued until 6:30am when Tommy's mom, Mary Shepherd, came into the room. Mary was not happy. 

        "THOMAS SHEPHERD! WAKE UP!" Mary yelled at Tommy as she yanked off his blankets. He simply groaned and curled into a ball, which just fueled her anger. "I'm not driving you to school if you're running late."

        And with that, she walked out of Tommy's room, slamming the door behind her.

        Many moments later, Tommy groggily sat up. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and stretched. He hated school and he hated mornings, but he new that he couldn't afford to be late again. He planned to sit for a couple of minutes, however one look at his phone told him that there wasn't enough time. The time was 6:47am.

        After slowly climbing out of bed, Tommy made his way to the bathroom. He finished what he needed to do in there, yet something stopped him from leaving. He saw something shiny, like silver, standing out greatly on his dark brown hair in the mirror. He reached to grab it, thinking that it was probably just a trick of the light since he was so tired. But, upon actually grabbing what he saw, he discovered that it was a white strand of hair.

        A white hair? he thought. Figuring it was from the stress that was being caused by school and his parents, Tommy plucked the hair from his head and went back to his room. The time was 6:51am.

        Once he was back to his room, he picked out his clothes. A plain black shirt, a green-and-black flannel shirt, a pair of underwear, his binder, some gray jeans, a random pair of socks, and a random pair of Converse. Tommy got dressed as quickly as he could and ran out of his room right after, and made his way to the kitchen. The time was 6:57am.

        In the kitchen, he grabbed a water bottle and a few random food items from the pantry. Tommy then ran to the front door, where his backpack was, and shoved the food and water in. The time was 6:59am.

        "I'm leaving!" Tommy told no one in particular as he left his house to go to school.

\---  
        As Tommy speed walked to school, his thoughts drifted back to the white hair he found earlier. He's never heard of anyone his age getting white hair, even from stress, but Tommy figures anything is possible. The time is 7:05am.

        So close, yet so far. Tommy makes it inside of his school right as the bell rings. His first period teacher would send him to the office if he went to class, so he just went to the office instead. 

        "Um... excuse me?" Tommy tried, and succeeded, to get the attention of the lady sitting at the front desk.

        "Yes?"

        "I was late."

        "Name and grade?"

        "Thomas Shepherd, 9th grade."

        "Alright, dear. I'll print out a pass for you- oh. Thomas, you've been late 5 times now! I'm sorry, but you can't go to class. You'll have to see the guidance counselor first. I'll write you a pass for that."

        "Oh, uh... Okay."

        The lady at the front desk wrote a pass for Tommy and gave him directions to find the guidance counselor's office. Tommy thanked her and left the office.

        When he was out of the office, he let out a sigh and thought This is going to be a long day...


	2. Counselor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been gone a while. Writes block.  
> I'm writing this while tired. Let me know about any typos.

"Thomas, you may go see the counselor now. Follow me," the office lady said.

"Okay." Tommy stood up and followed the lady down a couple halls. He'd never been to the guidance counselor's office before and he wished he wouldn't have to go again.

The office lady knocked on a door labeled "Guidance" and told Tommy to wait. As she was walking away, the door opened, revealing a woman.

"I'm Ms. Stone. And you're Thomas Shepherd?"

"Yes."

Ms. Stone was tall and even taller with her heels. Her blonde hair was short and thin. Though she wore much makeup, her age was still rather noticeable. Her button up shirt, blazer, and pencil skirt seemed a bit too formal for a school environment.

She sat down behind her desk and gestured for Tommy to sit in the seat in front of the desk. Tommy sat, putting his backpack down next to him.

"It says here that," she glanced at her laptop screen, "you've been late 5 times in just two weeks. Why is that?"

"I've been over sleeping," he replied, looking down at his lap.

"Can your parents drive you?"

"No."

"Can you get a ride with a friend?"

"No."

"Do you use an alarm in the mornings or do you rely on your parents?"

"Alarm at 5:30am. I'm always too tired to get up and my mom ends up waking me up."

"Why are you so tired?"

"I don't know."

Ms. Stone sighed. "Thomas, I can't help me unless you talk to me."

"Yeah." Tommy played with his fingers, bounced his leg. This conversation was dragging on.

"I'll be calling your mom to let her know of the situation." She pulled out a sticky note and wrote up a pass, then handed it to Tommy. "You may go to class."

"Thanks," Tommy said as he took the pass.

He grabbed his backpack and left. There were still 40 minutes left of first period. He could do this; he could make it through the rest of the day.

Tommy was very wrong about that.


	3. Tired

"Atoms are the building blocks of matter. They are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons have a positive charge, and neutrons have no charge. Together, they make up the nucleus, the center of an atom. Electrons have a negative charge and they..."

The teacher went on and on and on. Tommy was tired. It was the last period of the day, yet it felt like school would never end.

All of his classes were boring, but today they were even worse. He couldn't focus on anything. They were slow, and boring, and he didn't like it at all. So, he doodled. He doodled on his notes and assignments in all of his classes.

When the bell rang, he was the first one out of the classroom. He nearly ran out of the school and all the way home. 

"I'm home," he told the emptiness of his house as he locked the door behind him.

He slowly made his way to his room, and threw his backpack at the foot of his bed. It had been almost eight hours in his binder, and he needed to take it off. Picking up the pace, he kicked off his shoes, and removed his sweating clothing and binder. A pair of mismatched pajamas soon replaced what he wore before.

Flopping down on his bed, Tommy fell asleep almost instantly.

\---

Tommy didn't wake up until a little after 7pm. Had he missed dinner?

No, he did not. Checking his phone, there was a message from his mom that read:

Hi, sweetie. I have to work late tonight. You probably won't see me until tomorrow morning. There's leftover chicken in the fridge. We'll talk tomorrow. I love you.

Nothing unusual about that message. His mom worked late often, especially on Fridays, like that day.

Climbing out of bed, Tommy yawned. He walked to the bathroom and felt around for the light switch. Pushing the lever up, he squeezed his eyes shut and walked to the toilet to do his business.

His eyes were still shut when he went to the sink and started washing his hands. Slowly he opened them and blinked a couple times.

Then he blinked again.

And he blinked again.

Tommy breathed in and closed his eyes again.

"Nope. Nope. Not happening," he said out loud to himself. "This is a dream. Or, or a trick of the light."

Half of his hair couldn't be white, could it?

Once in the kitchen, he pulled out the leftover chicken and ate it cold.

He decided to go back to bed. His hair was not white. His hair was it's usual dark brown. He was just tired.

Just tired from another day at school and imagining things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A double update. Amazing.  
> Let me know about any typos.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you notice any errors, please let me know.


End file.
